4116. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 25, 8–9.
[Florence]
[mid-January 1858] [1]
Do not vex yourself any more, my dearest Isa—it is natural that you should be indignant, .. nay, it is even righteous. To him you have been only too tolerant, tender, & self-forgetting– He follows your example in forgetting you too, .. acting even below the par of the ordinary male creature. A wretched, ungrateful .. what shall I say? Better leave it & say nothing.
As for the rest, I had hoped that with somewhat less fluctuation you had opposed a connection or intercourse, which (however considered) was dishonorable & disastrous to him. Considering the strong terms of disgust in which you have spoken to me of Capt. W– [2] from time to time, & of the ‘ignobleness’ of Lytton’s position towards him, I had imagined that you had done so openly always,—and I confess I do feel sorry that you accuse yourself now of having tolerated so much. If the position was real, or if only a sham, in either case it was hideous & corrupt—and no one could blame you (but rather honor you) for endeavoring with a friend’s influence to change it. [3]
One thing I know, that Lytton is perfectly aware of what my feeling is about it, though I never spoke on the subject directly. He has been shy with me ever since we returned from Lucca & has felt in that particular nerve (which he dignifies perhaps by calling his heart) that my personal feeling for him was not strong enough to admit of my tolerating the dirt in which he stood. There has been no mistake in that, certainly,—& I am glad of it.
You have been too kind to Lytton—there is your fault, Isa, too kind– I wish earnestly you had been less so, dear dearest Isa. <***>
Publication: B-IB, p. 142.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by EBB’s references to Lytton’s conduct towards Isa Blagden; see letter 4111.
2. Capt. Fleetwood Wilson (see letter 3427, note 5).
3. We are unable to explain the nature of Lytton’s “position towards” Fleetwood Wilson or why EBB thinks it “hideous & corrupt.”
___________________
